Taipei: The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) announced on Tuesday that it had intercepted a Taiwanese-owned vessel attempting to illegally smuggle 24 Vietnamese nationals into Taiwan.

According to Focus Taiwan, the Yilan District Prosecutors Office completed its investigation on August 22, leading to the indictment of four key suspects on charges related to the Human Trafficking Prevention Act and the Immigration Act. Chen Chien-chih, deputy head of CGA’s Yilan Investigation Corps, confirmed these developments.

The CGA’s statement revealed that the investigation began in October 2024 after intelligence about a human smuggling ring reached the authorities. Under the leadership of Yilan prosecutors, a joint investigation team was formed, comprising CGA units and the National Immigration Agency.

The team employed radar systems and other surveillance tools to track the Taiwanese-flagged Jin Cai Man No. 8 fishing boat, which displayed suspicious activity. This led to the uncovering of a human trafficking operation aimed at smuggling Vietnamese individuals for profit.

After days of monitoring, the CGA dispatched its Anping-class offshore patrol vessel and PP-10087 patrol vessel to intercept the fishing boat on April 25, approximately 9.3 nautical miles from Taiwan’s territorial waters.

Prosecutors indicated that the trafficking operation was orchestrated by two brothers surnamed Lee, who charged each Vietnamese national NT$250,000 (US$8,190.8) for passage. Before reaching shore, the trafficked individuals were threatened with being thrown overboard unless they paid an additional NT$150,000, resulting in a total payment of NT$9.6 million to the smugglers.

The Lee brothers, alongside the vessel’s captain, surnamed Lo, and another associate, surnamed Ruan, were indicted for violating trafficking and immigration laws.

Meanwhile, 21 of the Vietnamese nationals are detained for breaching the Immigration Act, while the remaining three have been deported, as reported by the Chinese-language Liberty Times.